Trial opens of Turkish military officers accused of coup plot

Dec 16, 2010, 8:14 GMT

Istanbul - Nearly 200 Turkish military officers accused of involvement in a coup plot are set to go on trial on Thursday - in a court case likely to heighten tensions between Turkey's secular military and mildly Islamist government.

A total of 196 retired and active officers, including the former commanders of the Turkish navy and air force, are alleged to have planned a coup in 2003 in a plot codenamed 'Sledgehammer.' Details of the plan were first revealed in documents leaked to the liberal newspaper Taraf in January 2010.

Thursday's hearing, taking place in a court in the town of Silivri just outside Istanbul, is expected to be the start of a trial that could last several years. Some of the suspects face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The Sledgehammer plot is said to have included the bombing of two major mosques in Istanbul, an attack on a military museum by people disguised as Islamic fundamentalists and the provocation of military tensions with neighbouring Greece.

It is alleged that these events would have thrown the country into chaos, allowing the military to declare a state of emergency and overthrow the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party.

Detentions of the suspects after the coup plans came to light were the first in Turkish history of such high-ranking officers, who were previously considered 'untouchable.' All of the suspects were later released until the trial.

But in November, Turkey's interior and defence ministers used a decades-old law to remove from their posts two current generals and an admiral who are suspects in the trial - a move seen as an unprecedented assertion of the government's power over the military.

Turkey's powerful military, which sees itself as the ultimate guardian of the country's secular political system, has staged three military coups since 1960 and a 'soft coup' in 1997. Elements of the military are known to be opposed to the ruling AK party, which has Islamist roots.

The military has denied the coup plot allegations, saying the scenarios were merely part of a hypothetical war game for training purposes.

The Sledgehammer case parallels another trial in Turkey centred around another alleged coup plot, known as 'Ergenekon.' Some 400 people, including journalists, academics and politicians, have been arrested in connection with that trial, which has been ongoing since 2008.

Critics of the government have accused it of using coup allegations as a way of getting rid of its opponents. Government officials have denied that politics are behind the trials, saying they are part of ongoing efforts to strengthen democracy in Turkey and bring further civilian oversight over the military.

On Tuesday Turkey's Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) announced that it was replacing the chief judge in the Sledgehammer case because of allegations by the ministry of justice that he had ties to suspects in the Ergenekon trial, as well as connections to a drug ring and prostitution activities.

The timing of the chief judge's reassignment, just two days before the start of the trial, drew criticism and speculation. The lawyer of retired General Cetin Dogan, the former head of the First Army region who as lead author of the coup plan is the main suspect, said the case involves more than 100,000 pages of evidence and that the chief judge had been studying the case for the last four months.

Read more about Politics

Read more about Turkey Justice